Monday, February 2, 2009

In Arsene We Trust

Same old story. I really should know better by now. Arsene must have his magic hat on again.

The fantastic details of the story are still being filled in. Assuredly, we'll learn more tomorrow, but it does certainly seem like Arsenal played some serious hardball with these negotiations. The Russians insisted for so long on a much higher fee and it appears the Arsenal may well have plucked Andrei Arshavin for just slightly more than HALF of what Zenit were demanding. Granted it's rare that the rumoured fee is ever fully realized, but still. To have cut the thing in HALF!? I am damn close to - damn close - to getting happy about my football again. If you know me personally, as some of our readers out there do, not much gets me excited about my football like a creative and incisive presence. That, to me, is pure joy (pura vida even). It's the football equivalent of "let there be light."

And it's why I've just struggled so mightly to make it through this season. Even with an Arsenal win and three points collected, there truly hasn't been much to make me happy this season. But look at the above photo. What do you see there? A player who has yet to prove anything on a more competitive stage? Nope.

What I see is an incisive pass from a creative genius who is about to be under the tutelage of the best manager in the world. See? Look, you see it too, don't you? No less an authority than Dick Advocaat has an impressive opinion of the lad as well.

Certainly, Zenit coach Dick Advocaat seemed to be resigned to losing his playmaker on Monday night. "Arsenal don't realise how good a player Arshavin is," said Advocaat. "He will be a sensation in England and is worth more than Arsenal have paid for him."